Week 3 - Youth Question 1
“Was there anything before God?”
Sunday marked the first time in Youth where we devoted our teaching time to answering questions students have about God, the Bible, or life in general. One week prior a student placed this question in the drop box: “Was there anything before God?”
Regardless of our age, this question is challenging. “Of course,” we think, “there had to have been something before God.”
And yet the opening words of the Bible contradict our assumption.
“In the beginning, God…”
The first four words of Genesis 1:1 make an enormous, incomprehensible claim. In the beginning, before anything else existed—before atomic matter, before space or time—there was God. And out of nothing this God created everything.
The modern world wants us to believe that we can understand everything. That science and reason has an answer to everything. And yet, when we start to question our origins, we enter into an unknowable realm of competing hypotheses, which lead us to uncertainty. And in this land of uncertainty, where reason can only offer answers based on probability, we are forced to place our faith in something. We are forced to acknowledge that whatever answer we land on will insufficiently explain this incomprehensible reality.
As Christians, we find limited answers to these unknowable, unanswerable, incomprehensible questions within the Bible. And while the Bible tells us only pieces of the whole, there is comfort in the reality that we don’t have to know everything because there is a good God who holds everything together. We can find peace in believing that this God, who created everything out of nothing—who alone existed before there was anything—is with us and offers us peace where others find despair.
Continuing the Conversation at Home
Your kids are curious about everything. As parents you have the unique opportunity to nurture and foster their curiosity in ways no other adult can. Take a moment this week to encourage them for being good thinkers and for asking good questions. Tell them what you struggle with and what you wish you knew. Let them know that you are interested in learning with them and that their thoughts matter to you. Remind them that it’s okay not to know everything because God holds everything together—even the greatest mysteries of the world.
A great way to invite dialogue with your kids is to ask them what they think about something. Take a moment this week to ask your kids what they think about something you don’t know the answer to. After they offer a solution be willing to receive it and engage further with them. Being quick to listen and slow to correct is a great way to invite honest dialogue with your kids. If your kids know you are interested in the big questions they have, they will be more open to coming to you with everything else.